U.S. District Senior Judge John G. Heyburn II set the conference for 1 p.m. Friday.

"We're very grateful for the opportunity to be heard so quickly," said Holly VonLuehrte, spokeswoman and general counsel for state Agriculture Commissioner James Comer.

The state Agriculture Department wants to distribute the 250-pound batch of seeds for use in pilot projects that would be Kentucky's first hemp crop in decades. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have kept the seeds at a UPS facility at Louisville International Airport for several days at the request of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Kentucky officials argue that the lawsuit against Customs, the DEA, Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department is necessary to get the seeds planted by June 1 for the growing season and because various DEA officials keep giving Kentucky officials different answers on what needs to be done to get the seeds.

Growing hemp without a federal permit was banned in 1970 when the government classified the crop as a controlled substance related to marijuana. But imported hemp products, such as clothing, foods and lotions, have been allowed, and the industry is growing in the United States.

Comer has said the new federal Farm Bill, which allows universities to conduct pilot hemp projects, trumps other regulations that would limit hemp growth.

“This is an agency tasked with cracking down on drug abuse in Kentucky, and they're using their finite resources to impound industrial hemp seeds, which are legal.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

State agriculture officials are seeking a court order preventing federal officials from blocking the delivery of the seeds and a judgment saying their efforts are legal and that federal officials cannot add requirements beyond the Farm Bill.

In a letter in the court file, DEA official Joseph T. Rannazzisi said the agency was willing to work with Kentucky "on an extremely expedited basis."

Hemp and marijuana are the same species, Cannabis sativa, but hemp has a negligible amount of THC, the psychoactive compound that gives marijuana users a high.

But Rannazzisi, the deputy assistant administrator in the Office of Diversion Control, said the agency's position is that "the importation of cannabis seeds continues to be subject to the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act." The letter also said the state agriculture department has to register as an importer of controlled substances and then get a permit for the seeds in question. It added that the department or universities cannot assign the authority to grow hemp to private individuals.

A group of military veterans interested in hemp farming planned to participate in one of the pilot projects in Rockcastle County in Eastern Kentucky.

Hemp has a long history in the United States. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew the crop, which was historically used for rope but has hundreds of other uses. Kentucky was known for its production in the 1800s, but still questions remain about whether it could take root once again as a cash crop.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has taken credit for getting the hemp language put in the Farm Bill, criticized the delays Thursday.

"This is an agency tasked with cracking down on drug abuse in Kentucky, and they're using their finite resources to impound industrial hemp seeds, which are legal, at the Louisville airport while we've got a heroin epidemic in our state," McConnell said on Lexington, Ky., radio station WVLK-AM in a transcript issued by his office. "You've got misplaced priorities here. They're sitting on a legal product, seeds that we need to get into the ground fairly quickly because of planting season, while we've got this heroin epidemic going on."

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway's office issued an informal opinion April 1, which is in the court file, saying that the Farm Bill "appears to exempt hemp pilot programs from the Controlled Substances Act, allowing the sale of hemp in Kentucky by those programs."